China Creates the Opportunity to Be a Threat Using Any Pretext

This is the last of four special reports showing China to be a national security threat to the United States (see links below article). In the first report, Liberty Nation exposed Beijing as the more worrisome threat when compared with Russia. In the second, China was revealed to be a threat with the capability or means to be legitimately hostile to the U.S. And in the third, we showed the communist country to be a geopolitical threat with plans for global domination. In this, the conclusion, we reveal how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses any perceived circumstance as an opportunity for its belligerent behavior – its self-servicing actions.

Up to this point, when we think of Beijing's objective of global dominance, the focus has been on the military jeopardy in which the CCP puts the U.S. and the West in general. As ominous as that is, however, the global risk of the Peoples' Republic of China's (PRC) broader pursuit of opportunities to achieve its hegemonic goals is far more compelling. In its official information website, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warns the American public of "The China Threat" in its bulletin What We Investigate. One of the recent publications explains the opportunities that China is exploiting.

"The counterintelligence and economic espionage efforts emanating from the government of China and the Chinese Communist Party are a grave threat to the economic well-being and democratic values of the United States," the report explained. From a national security perspective with the emphasis on "national," the FBI cautions:

"The Chinese government is employing tactics that seek to influence lawmakers and public opinion to achieve policies that are more favorable to China… the Chinese government is seeking to become the world's greatest superpower through predatory lending and business practices, systematic theft of intellectual property, and brazen cyber intrusions…efforts target businesses, academic institutions, researchers, lawmakers, and the general public and will require a whole-of-society response."

American citizens, primarily U.S. government and defense industry professionals with security clearance, represent a golden opportunity for CCP espionage. Beijing is "using professional networking social media sites to target people with U.S. government security clearances." Where obvious chances for the PRC to exploit opportunities to attack the U.S. are not present, Beijing will make up a pretext to claim U.S. aggression or anti-CCP motives. The New York Times reporting on the comments of Hu Xijin, editor of Global Times, Beijing's disinformation machine, said: "In his latest unsubstantiated claim, he warned that Mr. Trump could launch a drone attack on Chinese bases in the South China Sea." The most concerning of China's opportunities to project its influence is the unchallenged construction of bases in the South China Sea.

One year ago, in an article explaining the work being done on atolls and contested islands, the New Zealand Herald revealed: "Worrying new satellite imagery suggests China is building 'full-blown military bases on controversial artificial islands in the South China Sea." Of particular concern is a facility being built on a ring-shaped coral reef about 150 miles from the Philippines. The reef, appropriately named Mischief Reef, was ruled within the economic exclusion zone belonging to the Philippines by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

That determination did not carry much weight. China has built structures on the atoll that have every appearance of being permanent. Permanent or not, to ensure the atoll is defended, in January of last year, "Beijing passed the Coast Guard Law, or 'open fire:' which gave their navy and coast guard the power to take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty in disputed waters." China had the opportunity to assert its hegemonic desires and did. To date, there has been no real challenge to the Peoples' Liberation Army's exercise of squatting rights.

Another opportunity for China to test the United States' resolve is its claim on the island of Taiwan. Writing for The New York Times, Raymond Zhong and Steven Lee Myers explained:

"A major potential flashpoint is Taiwan, the self-governing, democratic island that the Communist Party regards as Chinese territory…China has flown more and more warplanes into the airspace near Taiwan, sending a reminder that it has never ruled out annexing the island by force."

Beijing believes that it is only a matter of time until Taiwan is contained within mainland China, and if that means invading the island and taking it by force, then so be it.  The pretext for that approach is that China believes it is destined to supplant the U.S. in the Pacific region and is moving toward that end. As Zhong and Myers put it, "China's leaders see signs of American decline everywhere of late: in the nation's fumbled handling of the coronavirus pandemic, in its internal divisions over race, in its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan." Every perceived misstep by the U.S. is an opportunity for the CCP to move forward with its plans. The Biden administration must be thinking down the chessboard and deny the PRC opportunities to bolster its notion of a world run by China. The U.S. must meet the Chinese threat by seeing Beijing through the lens of a police detective. There are means, motivation, and opportunity.

The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliation.

~  Read more from Dave Patterson.

Part 1: Russia or China – Which Is the Greater Threat?
Part 2: US v China: A Menacing National Security Trend
Part 3: China Doubles Down on Geopolitical Challenge to US